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Hypothesis: Stem cells need vitamin D too – Jan 2012

Vitamin-D deficiency, autoimmunity and graft-versus-host-disease risk:Implication for preventive therapy

Experimental Hematology
Mona Benrashid1,
Kim Moyers1,
Mohamad Mohty2,
Bipin N. Savani3, Corresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding author
1 Clinical Pharmacy division, Department of Pharmacy, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
2 Hematology Department, CHU de Nantes, Universite de Nantes, and INSERM U892, Nantes, France
3 Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Section, Division of Hematology/ Oncology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
Received 27 November 2011. Accepted 12 January 2012. Available online 17 January 2012.

The majority of patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are expected to have vitamin-D deficiency early post-HSCT due to poor nutritional status and limited sun exposure.

The importance of vitamin D in the immune system has been well defined over the past several years, as vitamin-D has demonstrated modulatory effects on the immune system through B- and T-lymphocyte, macrophage, monocyte and dendritic cell regulations, which are the effector cells involved in graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) pathophysiology after HSCT.

High dose early replacement of vitamin D might attenuate autoimmune reactions and may decrease the severity of GVHD. In this article, we discuss the hypothetical link between early vitamin-D deficiency and GVHD and its potential therapeutic role in GVHD and long term bone loss after HSCT.
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See also VitaminDWiki